You can never take people at their word until it is written out in details.
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A lot of people including yourself set yourself up for a big heartache looking for all those extras.
Unfortunately you're right on that, shmeng. Guess I just expected the same straightforwardness from the other guys that we got with MP when he'd make promises.
5. People who fail to recognize the greatness of ADTOE and DT simply because MP is not in the band. Look, you know, full respect to MP. He was a founding member and he's a great drummer. But the last few albums with him (as good as they were in spots) seemed to be held back by a darkness that, I suspect, was his doing. His songs were about addiction, regret, disorder, etc. Fine. I get that the guy has personal demons, and so forth. But there are also four other people in the band with their own creative visions that I suspect were being somewhat silenced by MP's alpha personality. He was the black clouds to Petrucci's, Rudess', Myung's and LaBrie's silver linings. Simply compare a track like "Constant Motion" with anything from the latest album. There are deeper themes and the musicianship has been reborn.
Hold on a minute - you're gonna solely blame MP for the last couple/few albums that didn't match up to what (you believe) their previous albums were in terms of quality? There's no doubt that MP helped steer the ship in terms of the musical direction, which led to some of the heavier/darker material that they wrote. Keep in mind tho that the Octavarium album also came from that time, which didn't have anywhere near as much darkness. And MP had *nothing* to do with what others wrote about lyrically. So darkness, negativity, etc. of the lyrics to As I Am, In the Presence of Enemies, A Nightmare to Remember and others should be placed at JP's feet, since he's the one who decided to write the lyrics about those topics! And let's not forget that while MP no doubt contributed musical ideas to the songwriting, the majority of it came from JP and JR, so again, not all the blame can be placed at MP's feet.
The guitar solo on "The Bigger Picture" is daring in its simple beauty. MP would have likely insisted JP shred some aggressive solo for it, if he would have even allowed the song on the album, anyway. And do you really think the wistful, almost folk-ish "Along for the Ride" would have ever gotten the approval of MP? Never ever in a million years. I have no problem with the occasional "The Root of All Evil" or "Repentance," but, jeez, give it a rest. Just because DT is a "metal" band doesn't mean everything has to be so heavy and depressing. It's about the music, not the theme, and I think MP forgot that.
Really? You think MP told JP what to play for a guitar solo and that JP bowed to his wishes? C'mon man - get real. I can't imagine MP ever insisting that JP play something! Who sometimes does over-the-top shredding in the concert setting that's not on the album? JP! Not MP! To make such a comment just is ridiculous. If that's not enough, I submit to you half of the Octavarium album (especially These Walls), as well as Repentance, The Best of Times and The Count of Tuscany as evidence of non-agressive shredding solos done on recent MP-era albums. And if that's not enough, even *if* MP directed JP to play something and JP wasn't in full agreement with it, you can be sure that JP would've stood up to MP, just as he did with the angry/pseudo-cookie monster vocals in A Nightmare to Remember.
I won't disagree that the general direction of DT was starting to get a bit too dark and negative (altho you do have Wither and The Best of Times on BCaSL which don't come off that way) for my personal tastes. For that I'm glad that there's much more of a balance of uplifting style songs on the last 2 albums to balance out the darkness. But I would have been curious to see what DT's next album direction would have been had MP still been with them. I can't imagine that it would have continued in the same direction as the last two, considering that previously they always changed direction in reaction to the previous album (SC and BCaSL being the exception to the rule). Not that this could ever be proved, but one has to wonder...
For me, it just seems like since MP left, a veil of repression has been lifted off of this band, and now they seem much more liberated and open, on a musical level.
I don't think I'd go as far as to say that the rest of the band had been repressed, but certainly there's been a renewed sense of enthusiasm and energy in the songwriting. But part of that renewal could be attributed to the fact that they *had* to prove something after MP left. And having a new band member would definitely cause a shake-up in the way they wrote new music.
And I doubt they ever said they were gonna do EVERYTHING Portnoy used to.
I managed to find the quotes I was thinking of. Here's what they said:
LaBrie: "Yes, Mike was all about those things and not to simplify it or belittle it, but that will just have to be something that we allocate to each and every one of us to take over. So that will be a major difference in the band. Instead of one person handling all of those responsibilities, it's going to be spread out over four others."
Rudess: "I guess we're excited about being able to look at all the cool stuff Mike did and spread them around a bit. We've got an amazing team of managers and tour managers, we're all very capable guys and we're not scared. This is not rocket science. This is not curing cancer, this is a rock band, and I think we can handle it."
So take that as you will, but the implication I read into these comments is that they will carry on doing all the things that MP had previously established, divided amongst the other band members.
The key word there is "implication." You are assuming they meant one thing, when they probably meant another. When JLB talked about responsibilities, he was likely not talking about every little thing Portnoy did that wasn't necessarily necessary to making their band work. For example, doing covers is not a responsibility; it's a bonus thing Portnoy had them do. LaBrie and Rudess were obviously talking about all of the little things that need to get done, not little things that the band can survive and succeed without. Make sense?
I follow you regarding what JL said. But on the other hand, JR specifically comments on "the cool stuff Mike did" which obviously is *not* in reference to the necessary responsibilities of running a band. So yes, it still is in reference to the bonuses and perks that MP did.
I mean, you cannot convince someone to like music. It's like trying to talk someone into falling in love with you. I have far more respect for someone who has given the albums a fair chance and just cannot like them, versus a MP disciple who simply does not like them because MP is not on them - that's what's really irritating.
Agreed, but that is their loss. I am not sure why a small percentage go out of their way to not like music by a band they love, out of some bizarre loyalty to a musician who wouldn't know them from Adam, but like I said, it's their loss.
Just to clarify - not sure if Danger Zone's (or MarkFitDT's earlier) comments are in reference to me or Stadler, but at least speaking for me, I still do enjoy the albums they'd put out since then and I still have seen the band several times without MP, altho my enthusiasm is not what it once was. I think the honest number of people who will refuse to like an album solely because MP isn't on it is pretty small and I agree that it's their loss.
Topic: Biggest DT-related disappointment (Read 16529 times)
